Evidence foundations
Extracting reliable data from PDFs, scanned reports and narrative disclosures, while preserving the source text and context.
Turn messy evidence
into decisions
people can defend.
Orelian is a data science consultancy specialising in unstructured data analysis. We turn reports, accounts and financial disclosures into clear, traceable evidence — helping organisations make decisions they can explain and defend.
Specialist analysis for evidence buried in documents.
Annual reports, financial statements, regulatory filings and free text hold evidence that spreadsheets alone cannot capture. We extract and connect the figures, narrative and context, helping public bodies, funders, researchers and businesses understand organisations, resources and risk.
Working withGovernment and public bodiesFunders and foundationsResearchersInfrastructure bodiesCharities
Analysis for important decisions
Combining financial figures with narrative evidence to compare organisations, identify patterns and understand resources and risk.
Decision tools
Turning evidence and analysis into useful workflows, monitoring systems and responsible AI tools that work in practice.
-
Structuring unstructured data at scale
Turning reports, financial statements, scans and free text into consistent data that people can search, compare and analyse.
-
Automating evidence workflows responsibly
Replacing repetitive review without losing the source links, audit trail, or human oversight that serious research demands.
-
Making AI outputs inspectable
Showing the evidence behind an extraction or classification so users can verify results instead of trusting a black box.
-
Connecting figures with narrative
Linking financial figures with the explanations around them to reveal trends, differences and risks across organisations and reporting periods.
-
Moving from prototype to dependable product
Packaging models as maintained web applications and reusable Python tools that work with real users and changing data.
-
Supporting reproducible research
Giving researchers consistent workflows, structured exports, and transparent methods they can reuse and scrutinise.
Four steps. No black boxes.
Discover
Map the evidence, user workflow, and constraints before choosing models or writing product code.
Build
Develop the smallest useful product slice, joining data pipelines, models, interfaces, and auditability.
Validate
Test against expert review and real operating conditions, then measure both model quality and user value.
Ship
Release through accessible web interfaces and reusable packages, with documentation and monitoring built in.
-
Start with the decision
We design around real users, workflows, and incentives. Products are shaped to work in practice from day one.
-
Keep evidence traceable
The best technology is the technology people can use. We do not pick the most advanced option for its own sake.
-
Be honest about the limits
We make uncertainty, missing information and competing explanations visible. Sometimes the most useful result is knowing what the available evidence cannot support.
-
Test before scaling
We evaluate methods against real examples, measure errors and include proportionate human review. Promising ideas earn further investment through evidence, not enthusiasm.
-
Build for continuity
Everything we ship is designed for the people who will use it on Monday morning, not just the people who see the demo on Friday.
-
Build for independence
Open interfaces, clear documentation, and reproducible methods let users take their work further without depending on a services team.
“The best analytical work does more than produce an answer. It helps people see a decision differently.”
Sam founded Orelian to bring together two ways of seeing. His background in social science and doctoral research in data science mean he can go deep into technically demanding work without losing sight of the systems, people and consequences behind it.
Orelian grew from a belief that consequential decisions deserve evidence equal to their complexity. Sam helps organisations turn ambitious questions into practical, trustworthy evidence systems without losing sight of the people and public purpose behind the data.
Orelian is founder-led. Sam remains involved from framing the question through to delivery, keeping responsibility for the thinking and the outcome in the same hands.
LiverpoolWorking across the UKRemote and on site